Earlier, New Seasons Market, which has a grocery store on North Interstate, had pledged to base its possible support on the input of local neighborhood associations. In a letter to Mayor Tom Potter, New Seasons CEO Brian Rohter wrote, “It is my understanding that all of the adjacent neighborhood associations have expressed support for this proposal.”

But the support of the Kenton neighborhood came as a surprise to Kenton resident Penny Schumacher, who claims the Kenton Association board wrote the letter without receiving input from other Kenton residents. Schumacher calls those residents' support for the project shaky at best.

After contacting the neighborhood association with her concerns, Schumacher received an e-mail from Doretta Schrock, the board member who wrote the letter of support, saying “The board voted to write a letter of support for the name change, making it clear they were speaking for themselves as a board and not for the neighborhood as a whole.”

Schumacher says the board was unwilling, when asked at a recent neighborhood association meeting, to clarify its position to the community.

Schrock, for her part, is also a member of the committee to rename Interstate Avenue and appeared on the cover of the September 13 edition of El Hispanic News with several other people holding a large banner with a César E. Chávez street sign and the words “Yes, it can be done.”

She says she was asked to join the committee after she wrote the letter on behalf of the neighborhood association, and that “Neither the Kenton Neighborhood Association board, nor I, are responsible for anyone's misconstruing of the letter.”